Golf Club

ABSTRACT

A golf club may have a head including a generally planar face and a sole and a shaft including a first curve and a second curve. The lower end of the shaft may be inserted into a hosel opening disposed on the head behind the plane of the face. The first and second curves may be structured to enable a golfer&#39;s hands to remain slightly forward of a leading edge of the head when the golf club is held with the sole in a resting position.

RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION

Priority Claim Under Rule 1.78(b): This patent claims priority from the following provisional patent application: Ser. No. 60/828,543, entitled “GOLF CLUB”, filed Oct. 6, 2006.

Priority Claim Under Rule 1.78(d): This patent is a continuation in part of patent application Ser. No. 11/149,890, entitled “GOLF CLUB”, filed Jun. 10, 2005, which in turn claims priority from provisional application No. 60/579,441, filed Jun. 14, 2004.

NOTICE OF COPYRIGHTS AND TRADE DRESS

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. This patent document may show and/or describe matter which is or may become trade dress of the owner. The copyright and trade dress owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright and trade dress rights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

This disclosure generally relates to golf clubs, and, more particularly, to clubs having a metal head, commonly called “irons”.

2. Description of the Related Art

Current regulations call for a maximum of 14 golf clubs to be used by a golfer during a round of golf. Typically, a set of golf clubs ranges from a putter through so-called “iron” clubs designed for various distances and degrees of loft to so called “wood” clubs, which are used for the longest distance shots. The putter, of course, is used for the final shots taken on or around a putting green.

A significant fraction of golf shots are made from the region surrounding the putting green. In the area around the putting green, the desired shot distance may not allow the use of a full swing with any of the 14 traditional clubs. Hitting shots with a variety of partial-strength swings is difficult for both novice and expert golfers.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view of the head and lower portion of the shaft of a golf club.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the head and lower portion of the shaft of a golf club.

FIG. 3 is a back view of the head and lower portion of the shaft of a golf club.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the head and shaft of a golf club.

Throughout this description, elements appearing in figures are assigned three-digit reference designators, where the most significant digit is the figure number and the two least significant digits are specific to the element. An element that is not described in conjunction with a figure may be presumed to have the same characteristics and function as a previously-described element having a reference designator with the same least significant digits.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Description of Apparatus

Referring now to FIG. 1, a golf club may include a golf club head 110 and a shaft 180 which is only partially shown in FIG. 1. The golf club head 110 may include a relatively thick body 120 and a generally planar face 160. The body 120 may have an undersurface, commonly called the “sole”, including a generally flat ground contact area 122, a forward portion 124, and a trailing portion 126. The forward portion 124 may be slightly curved, rising at an approximately 8° angle from the ground contact area 122 to a leading edge 128 where the forward portion 124 meets the face 160. The trailing portion 126 may rise at a slight angle, approximately 2° or 3° between the ground contact area 122 and the back of the body 120.

The club head 110 may be provided with a hosel 140 having an opening for receiving the lower end of the club shaft 180. The hosel 140 may be located on the body 120 such that the hosel opening is located behind the plane of the face 160. The hosel 140 may be located on the body 120 substantially and directly behind the face 160. As shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, for example, the hosel 140 is on the right-hand side of the head 110 (when viewed from the front) which means this would be made for a right-handed golfer. For a left-handed golfer, the hosel 140 would be on the opposite side from the showing in these figures.

As shown in FIG. 1, the face 160 has a loft angle of 48 degrees. Within this description, the loft angle is defined to be the angle of the face with respect to a line normal to the ground contact area 122 of the sole, measured in degrees. The ground contact area 122 may be approximately horizontal when the club is held in a resting position. Thus the loft angle may be approximately the angle between the face and vertical when the club is held in a resting position. A 48-degree loft angle may be useful for shots taken in the immediate vicinity of a putting green. The loft angle between the face 160 and a line normal to the ground contact area 122 may be between 10 degrees and approximately 70 degrees. Club heads having different loft angles will impart different loft to the ball when driving it from the fringe or the rough area surrounding the green.

FIG. 2 shows a front view of a golf club 200, which may be the golf club 100, having a club head 210 and a shaft 280 which is only partially visible. Except for a hosel (not visible) to which the shaft 280 is attached, the club head 210 may be symmetrical about a vertical mid-plane. The club head 210 may have a face 260, which may be provided with a plurality of transverse grooves 265. The transverse grooves may be cut into the face 260 with selected depths and widths to help impart spin to a golf ball struck with the face 260.

FIG. 3 shows a back view of an exemplary golf club 300, which may be the golf club 100 or 200, having a club head 310 and a shaft 380 which is only partially visible. The club head 310 may include a body 320. The shaft 380 may be joined to the club head 310 at a hosel 340 which may include an opening in the body 320 to receive the end of the shaft 380.

At least one insert 330 may be disposed in an opening in a back surface of the body 320. In the example shown in FIG. 3, there are two inserts 330, each of which may have a cylindrical shape and may be disposed within two cylindrical openings drilled or otherwise formed in the back surface of the body 320. The club head 310 may be formed of a first material having a first density or weight per unit volume. The inserts 330 may be formed of a second material having a second density substantially higher than the first density. For example, the head 310 may be formed from an Aluminum alloy, and the inserts may be formed from Tungsten or an alloy that is primarily Tungsten.

The size, number, and location of the inserts may cause the center of gravity of the head 310 to be lower than the center of a golf ball to be struck with the club head 310. The diameter of a normal golf ball is 1.68 inches. Thus the size, location, and number of inserts 330 may be determined to cause the center of gravity of the head 310 to be less than 0.84 from the plane of the sole. The inserts may be positioned near the back of the club head to increase the moment of inertia of the club head.

FIG. 4 shows a complete golf club 400 which may be the golf club 100, 200, or 300. The golf club 400 may include a shaft 480 joined to a club head 410. The shaft 480 may include a first curve 482 near the end of the shaft where it is inserted into the hosel 440 and a second curve 484 which is between the first curve 482 and the straight portion of the shaft 480. The end of the shaft remote from the club head may be finished with a grip which is not shown. The first curve 482 may lie in first plane, and the second curve 484 may lie in a second plane different from the first plane different from the first plane.

The straight portion of the shaft 480 may be sufficiently long such that the golf club 400 may have an overall length 490 in excess of 32 inches. The shape of the club head, the low center of gravity, and the long doubly-curved shaft may, in combination, allow the use of pendulum swing, similar to a putting stroke, when a golfer hits shots around the putting green. The two curves 482 and 484 in the shaft 480 may be structured to position a golfer's hands slightly ahead of the leading edge of the golf club when the club is resting in its natural position. It is important for the golfer to keep his hands at or ahead of the leading edge of the golf club when using a pendulum stroke technique. This action and motion promote accuracy and solid contact with the golf ball during the stroke.

Closing Comments

Throughout this description, the embodiments and examples shown should be considered as exemplars, rather than limitations on the apparatus and procedures disclosed or claimed. Although many of the examples presented herein involve specific combinations of method acts or system elements, it should be understood that those acts and those elements may be combined in other ways to accomplish the same objectives. With regard to flowcharts, additional and fewer steps may be taken, and the steps as shown may be combined or further refined to achieve the methods described herein. Acts, elements and features discussed only in connection with one embodiment are not intended to be excluded from a similar role in other embodiments.

For means-plus-function limitations recited in the claims, the means are not intended to be limited to the means disclosed herein for performing the recited function, but are intended to cover in scope any means, known now or later developed, for performing the recited function.

As used herein, “plurality” means two or more.

As used herein, a “set” of items may include one or more of such items.

As used herein, whether in the written description or the claims, the terms “comprising”, “including”, “carrying”, “having”, “containing”, “involving”, and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of”, respectively, are closed or semi-closed transitional phrases with respect to claims.

Use of ordinal terms such as “first”, “second”, “third”, etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements.

As used herein, “and/or” means that the listed items are alternatives, but the alternatives also include any combination of the listed items. 

1. A golf club comprising: a head including a generally planar face and a sole; and a shaft including a first curve and a second curve, the lower end of the shaft inserted into a hosel opening disposed on the head behind the plane of the face, wherein the first curve and the second curve are structured to enable a golfer's hands to remain slightly forward of a leading edge of the head when the golf club is held with the sole in a resting position.
 2. The golf club of claim 1, further comprising at least one insert disposed in an opening in a rear surface of the head.
 3. The golf club of claim 2, wherein the head is composed of a first material having a first density and the insert is composed of a second material having a second density substantially higher than the first density.
 4. The golf club of claim 3, wherein the at least one insert is disposed to cause the center of gravity of the head to be no more than 0.84 inches above the sole.
 5. The golf club of claim 4, wherein the at least one insert is exactly two inserts.
 6. The golf club of claim 3, wherein the head is an aluminum alloy and the at least one insert is primarily tungsten.
 7. The golf club of claim 1, wherein the face has a loft angle of at least 10 degrees.
 8. The golf club of claim 7, wherein the face has a loft angle of between 10 degrees and approximately 70 degrees.
 9. The golf club of claim 7, wherein the golf club is a wedge and the face has aloft angle of approximately 48 degrees.
 10. The golf club of claim 1, wherein the head is symmetric about a vertical mid plane between a heel and a toe of said head.
 11. The golf club of claim 1, wherein the hosel opening is disposed on the head directly behind the face.
 12. The golf club of claim 1, wherein the sole further comprises: a central generally flat ground contact surface; a forward portion rising at an approximately 8-degree angle from the ground contact surface to the leading edge; and a trailing portion rising at angle of approximately 2 degrees to 3 degrees from the ground contact surface to the trailing edge. 